Maud Pie is a geology student with super strength and an inability to display emotion. Trixie Lulamoon is a stage magician in possession of a grimoire inhabited by the spirit of a minor demon. Starlight is that demon. They fight crime.
Oh, and also they’re girlfriends. All three of them.
An entry into Bicyclette's StarTrixMaud Shipping Contest, in which it placed 4th.
Special thanks to The Sleepless Beholder, daOtterGuy, and ScatteredStarlight413 for pre-reading.
Now with cover art, thanks to The Sleepless Beholder!
Chapters (5)
Okay, this is a pretty good dynamic you've got here.
Oh, this is delightful this far. Looking forward to more.
Haha, that's one way to cut away from the action.
You know it’s bad when even the demon isn’t sure what’s going on with Pinkie...
Lovely way to elaborate on both the setting and our heroines’ relationship.
Damn, go Maud.
I almost fell out of my chair. That's Aperture Science! I have to love that.
Heh, the Krow Gang may have gotten off lightly.
A nice resolution to the emotional beats, even if we didn't get the giant fight sequence. And of course you had to include your OC as an easter egg.
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I will put her everywhere and nobody can stop me
It was probably a misremembering the quote, but I want to see the great and powerful spiderwhatever now.
Lovely conclusion. Every comic team needs a moment in the big climactic event. Also, fascinating glimpse at this world's Pinkie. Thank you for this, and best of luck in the judging.
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Oh, is that who the lady with the spacetime-cleaving greatsword was? I was wondering.
This is funny, entertaining, and I love what you've done with these characters so far, I can't wait to read the rest
I'm glad Maud got so much attention in this chapter, I love the way you write her. I like seeing what's going on in her head. Looking forward to more of her
Why would I give it a thumbs down? This was hilarious!
As for everything I disliked:
1.
That's it, that's the list.
Well that certainly is a hell of a premise! Yet another store and let's add to the read later list hopefully I will get to it sooner than later
hello! you should have already been PMed about this, but this comment is just to record that this fic has won Fourth Place in the StarTrixMaud Shipping Contest!
ah, this was great! beautiful contrast in how Trixie and Maud introduced themselves, and Starlight being a book demon really was not something i was expecting at all; i'm very impressed by how well you made such a strange concept work! and the banter at the end was top notch, especially Maud's pitch-perfect replies.
great translation of the characters to this setting! Trixie still being really into doing fake magic without using her real magic, Starlight being part of the world's magical mythology by having a past with Starswirl, and Maud being in the context of a mild-mannered geology student with secretly superpowered siblings back home, it all has the feel of superhero tropes in a way that is very neat to see. you've definitely caught on to something real, here!
great references to pineapple pizza, kites, going too far with autonomy-violating magic and feeling guilty about it; Starlight really seems so much like herself despite her very different background! the mental image of Starlight turning the pizza 2D in order to eat it was also very adorable. and this was also a great way to illustrate how their relationship dynamic works with Starlight being a book demon and all. very creative solution!
ah, a fun reference to Flim & Flam, as well as lampshading the abandoned factory trope. feel like the details of the previous owner of the factory is a reference i'm missing, but it still works as background spice. it's fun how the henchmen names work both as comic henchmen nicknames and pony names, again a great illustration of these connections you're making between MLP and superhero comic tropes. The Day The Earth Stood Still reference i did catch, though. and fantastic banter at the end! Starlight knows Trixie all too well
again, i feel like i'm missing a lot of references with the other superheroes (save the Spider-Verse), but it does a great job of adding to the superhero comic feel. it's also a nice touch to have these characters be the second-string team compared to the Elements of Harmony, with Maud's sister being a first-string hero. that almost feels like a modern-era superhero comic trope in it of itself: thinking of the way The Venture Bros. makes that shift of focus a part of its parody. and a great character moment between the trio at the end, and Trixie's insecurity.
as a story, this was a top-notch genre pastiche, really pulling together this world, these characters' backstories, and how their dynamics work in both domestic and superhero-plot settings in a minimum number of scenes. as a shipfic, this was, if you can believe it, also top-notch! throuple dynamics are hard to juggle but you really make it work, all the more impressive and entertaining for how non-standard book demon Starlight is as a character in a romantic context. i buy wholeheartedly why these three characters are into each other, and the banter and chemistry between them is just really fun and great. a thoroughly enjoyable read, all the more so of how unique the ideas were, thank you so much for writing it!
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Writing this, the hardest parts were making the banter feel romantic, because banter I can write but romance I have a hard time with, and knowing exactly how far to go with tropes. Earlier versions of chapters and half of a scrapped chapter are much more meta and even start breaking the fourth wall, because that's what I like from the superhero comics I read, but I ended up dialing it back a lot. I don't actually read a lot of comics, so this is more of a pastiche of the idea of superhero comics, or superhero cartoon adaptations, with a lot deep cuts and references to things both in and out of them. There were a lot more obscure references back when this was supposed draw more elements from the Marvel Comics continuities and was even loosely set in one of their many universes at one point before I decided that made it unapproachable. The fact that everyone assumes the Spider-Men featured are the movie Spider-Verse instead of the post comic event Spider-Verse team known as the Web Warriors kinda cements the idea that making a entire story that hinges on Marvel Lore would have been a bad idea.
Anyway, that's some of my post contest Author's commentary, I'm glad my story was enjoyed, this AU is one of those ones I tentatively would enjoy continuing but don't really have any motivation to, but we'll see, I'm rambling and don't know how to end comments so I'll just say im gay
I really enjoyed this story. The fact that Starlight really seemed like herself despite this being another universe entirely, really endears me to the whole story. What I liked was that this had a general feel of a comic book hero action, which was quite nice.
The fact that you managed to somehow transplant Trixie's sleight of hoof into this universe is nice, and the usual Starlight kite obsession is interesting to note. While reading through the story, it struck me that this was a little like a Marvel Comic, yet so not Marvel-like. Why? It was so much better lmao.
The romance weaved into a superhero-type story was nice, and I feel like it managed to avoid the trope most superhero stories fall into. All in all, a really well-done story, and I wish I read this sooner.
They do be fighting crime tho
Howdy, hi!
I am in love with the dynamic between Maud, Trixie, and Starlight in this. All three are categorized as super fun and I love the little flourishes to all of their characters. Also, the meta-text on that group of thugs was brilliant. You clearly know the genre you're emulating and I love the playfulness of the narration and prose.
I love the flirty banter between Starlight and Trixie here. It's super fun. I also really feel that want of doing something greater, hopefully, Trixie will manage it eventually. Maud is also just the sweetest. I continue to adore the dynamic and characterization you have of all the characters. Good stuff.
This was wonderful. I continue to adore their comfortable dynamic with each other. I also really like the slow drip-feed of world-building that happens in each chapter. Honestly, this is just the good stuff.
That fight scene was amazing. It had a really good sense of impact and flow. Super enjoyable and very readable. Never once got confused by the action. Also, they really do shoot down Trixie's best ideas.
Howdy, hi!
Amazing conclusion to this. Threw for a loop for but a moment before I reoriented to the story. Absolutely loved this whole thing from start to finish. It's such a good superhero story and well-done romance between the three characters. I adored every second of this.
Thank you for the read~!